Aqila and Haneul were hovering over the forest of Lower Ember.

"Are you sure you want to go in without me," Haneul asked.

"Yes, I know them. Besides, they are not going to want to discuss things with you. It's better this way, trust me." Aqila landed Talon and walked him over to the thickest part of the forest. "Stay hidden here, but call out if something happens," Aqila commanded. She ran to the well-camouflaged cabin and knocked on the door. She waited several minutes, and no one answered.

Aqila quietly sighed. Before she could turn around, someone covered her mouth from behind. She elbowed them in the side. When they crouched in pain, she hit them with a sidekick. When she looked, it was Arrow. He quickly pulled her into the brush of the forest. "Be quiet and stay down," he told her.

Several minutes later, Aqila heard footsteps approaching the cabin. Arrow was peering in between the leaves. He readied his bow and shot a single arrow. A groan was heard, followed by a body hitting the dirt. Arrow made signals with his fingers. The rest of the Flamethrowers emerged from the bushes. Arrow helped Aqila to her feet. "Suvan, take this body to the old hideout and leave it there," Arrow instructed.

"What's going on?"

"I really don't know. The past couple of days, we've been experiencing ambushes in the morning and afternoon. They are Agnes' soldiers, and we've had to kill them to ensure they don't take any information back."

"Arrow, where's Jai," Aqila asked him.

"I don't know. He left with Arin a few days ago. Actually, it's been close to a week. I wasn't concerned the first few days, but afterward, I sent Dysis to look for them, and she returned with nothing. I intended to send a search team, but then we started getting ambushed. I told Dysis not to come back right now. We can't afford anyone tailing her to any of our locations."

"Arrow, something's going on with Jai. We had an appointment to visit the Waterbearer tribes, and he lied about having something to do. Can you ask around about it?"

"Aqila, if someone had any information on Jai, they would have told me already. Can't you have a vision?"

"I've tried, but recently I can't have visions that are related to any Legend anymore."

"Alright, well, I'll still ask around in good faith," Arrow agreed.

"Arrow, can I talk to Alena and Zay?"

"I don't see why not. They're over there," he said, pointing near the cabin's entrance. Aqila made her way over. The moment she came into view, Zay and Alena stopped talking.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Aqila slightly bowed her head in respect.

"Of course not. Did you want to speak to us," Alena questioned.

"I did. Do either of you know where Jai and Arin could be?"

"You do know Arrow already asked us about it," Zay huffed.

"I know what he asked, but I'm asking about possibilities. Are there any places that they could have gone? Were they talking about someplace? Maybe someone that they wanted to see?"

"Wait up, aren't you a Seer? How come you can't just ask the stars," Zay was clearly irritated.

"Zay, stop," Alena hissed at him. "Jai and Arin were talking about something before they left. I didn't ask about it, though. I had to shake Arin off my trail when we were looking for Zay, and she was still pretty mad at me about it."

"Seer, I can't think of anyplace Jai would want to go. But there are people that he may have wanted to see. The only one that I know for sure is still alive is Arka, his step-father. Others are just wild guesses, but it could be the reason for this wild duck chase."

"Give me the wild guesses," Aqila replied.

"Well, when Jai was young, he was separated from his father, then he got amnesia around the time Arka found him. Jai may be looking for his parents. He had mentioned several times that his memory was improving, and he had vague memories of his early years before Arka."

"I'm not sure where Jai is originally from," Aqila sighed.

Zay tilted his head, "Maybe Kindle. His eyes were normally light brown. Only recently did they change to gold."

"Upper Ember is a good place to check, too. A lot of Kindlers settled there due to the overpopulation in Kindle," Alena chimed.

"Thank you, this has been a great help," Aqila smiled before heading back to Talon. They immediately took flight. Once several feet in the sky, "We're going to have to split up."

"They didn't have a location?"

"No, they had two possible areas, Upper Ember and Kindle."

"Let's just hit both of them together really quick. I don't like the idea of separating, especially since no one has heard from them," Haneul cautioned.

"You're right," Aqila sighed. She prayed to the Universe that they would locate Jai soon. They could not afford anything to happen to him. They still needed to find the Landkeeper legend and prevent a worldwide war. Their respective people need them.

"It seems like Agnes is concentrating his efforts on the Flamethrowers. That's the last thing I overheard from Neptune. The two of them met after that whole Tiber situation."

"I hope everything is going well for Tiber and swapping those formulas. Neptune and Agnes won't know anything is wrong with them until it's too late. Should we go to Kindle or Upper Ember first?"

"Let's go to Kindle first, then Upper Ember, that way, we won't be far from the Flamethrowers when we update them with our findings."

Aqila agreed as the pair hurried to Kindle. "What did you think about Saar's news?"

"Personally, I think we should be preparing for war."

"The Windmasters aren't going to agree with that. Helping with supplies is one thing, but going to war is not something I see them on board with."

"It doesn't matter. The moment we start helping Pyroc with supplies, we've taken a position. We're in the war too. Is that what I want? No, that's why everything is hanging in the balance of these couple of operations. Switching the formulas must be successful, and finding Jai so he can try to mediate this situation is crucial."

"I'm wondering if this move with Jai is exactly what Agnes and Neptune want us to do," Aqila pondered.

"What's the worst-case scenario?"

"Worst case is that Jai and Arin got caught by Agnes and are using active threats of war with Pyroc to lure the rest of the Legends out. The last thing Jai told me about Agnes is that he wants to kill all of the Legends. What if this is his way of luring us out?"

"Even so, if he has Jai, we have to try and free him. But, since you mentioned that angle, let's meet up with Tora while we are in Kindle. Besides, only a select few people know that you are a Legend that helps."

"Yeah, but being a Seer is not exactly a useful job for Agnes and Neptune either," Aqila replied.

"No, but we are here together. Unity counts for something."

"You're right. Now, let's see if we can make it before sundown."

"At top speed, we can," Haneul wiggled his eyebrows.

"Go ahead and brag! At Talon's top speed, we should be able to make it with a few minutes to spare."

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's stop all of this chit-chat and hurry it up already!" Haneul and Vermilion dove at top speed, leaving Talon and Aqila behind.

She shook her head before mumbling, "Show off." Talon flew as quickly as possible to stay within sight of Haneul. Aqila was in her head. Swapping the formulas was a big deal for their cause, and she prayed the mission was successful. Haneul has been investigating Neptune. A task that has yielded interesting and perplexing results. The Flamethrowers are trying to rebuild and deal with Agnes. Although that has been an ongoing battle, knowing that Cahya will have their back was comforting. The defective formula ensures a Pyrocean win if Agnes does make good of his threats towards them. The Waterbearer tribes were working together, watching out for Neptune, but they had not seen him. Surprisingly, it did not seem like Neptune had as many Waterbearer followers as they had initially thought.

It felt as if a significant piece of the puzzle was missing. The why. Why is Neptune terrorizing the Waterbearers? Why is he working with Agnes, a Fireheart, his natural rival? What are they working on? Do they share the same agenda? Why didn't he kill Tiber when he had the chance? If it is the Legends they are after, why let one slip out of your grasp? Aqila was near her wit's end. It was almost as if nothing was making sense anymore.

She took several deep breaths to refocus on what she could do: look for Jai. The predecessors taught them that they could not make progress divided, and they lived and died to prove that. Every Legend is needed. She had to find Jai or die trying.

After several hours of flying, Aqila landed Talon beside Vermilion.

"For an owl, you didn't make bad time," Haneul smirked. Aqila snatched him back by his long gray braid, "Okay, okay, I was just joking!"

Aqila laughed, "I know, now let's talk to Tora. We're not far." The pair ran on foot until they reached his residence. Stepping carefully over the hot stones, Haneul knocked on the door.

A couple minutes passed before the hazel-eyed leader opened the door, "Who are you?"

Aqila slammed the door open and rushed inside, dragging Haneul behind her, "Sorry, no time for introductions!" Once inside, Aqila used a wind blast to slam the door behind her, "This is urgent!"

"Okay, well, since you're taking over my house, did you want me to sit down too," Tora asked sarcastically.

"Have you seen Jai?"

Tora sat down on his couch and rested his right foot on his left knee, "No, but you're not the first person to ask me about him. What's going on?"

"It's like he's missing," Aqila explained, "No one has been able to get in contact with him. And Arin is with him too." Aqila felt her mind's eye calling to her. Her consciousness was swept away as she stood. A scene played out before her. It was here, in this desert land of Kindle. Two young men growing up with an unspoken rift between them. The scene kept repeating with two different young men each time. The faces were slightly blurry, but the eyes were always clear. The last two men bore a close resemblance to Tora and Jai. The eye color was different, but the expressions mirrored almost perfectly.

"Aqila!" She shook her head, ushered back to reality at the sound of Haneul's voice.

Tora rolled his eyes, "I am not repeating myself." Aqila could not stop staring at Tora, making him uneasy. She took several steps towards him, "What Storm? I hope you don't think I had anything to do with this?"

"What's your father's name?"

Tora's hazel eyes widened in disbelief, "Roshan. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you have any uncles?"

"No, my father was an only child. He had a cousin, but they had a terrible relationship. I think his cousin had a child, but I never met them. Wait! Why am I telling you this? What does my family have to do with anything? You do know that my parents are deceased, right?"

"Yeah, I know that. I just had a vision. It was about a long-time rift between two men, one of whom looked like you."

"Well, I can't help you there. I don't have a long-time rift with anyone per se. I mean, the Landkeepers waltzing in my territory is a problem. Upper Ember can be a problem, but that's groups of people. Anyways, I was telling your friend while you were mind traveling that a man came to me yesterday asking if I had seen Jai. I told him no and asked what I could do to help. He just said, 'He needs my help.' That was it. He left. He didn't leave a name or anything. I didn't take him seriously, though. Until now, that is."

"What's up with you and Sheraga not taking things seriously?!"

"Forgive me, mighty Seer! I shall grovel at your feet and beg for forgiveness! I wish the Universe told me you'd be paying me a visit. Still, the stars denied me," Tora said sarcastically as he exaggerated a bow to Aqila.

"Let's go," she whispered to Haneul.

"Aqila, if I hear anything, I'll send word immediately. You have my word," Tora vowed.

"Thanks, we appreciate it," Haneul waved as the pair left. They had just arrived at their dashers.

As Aqila mounted, she groaned, "Ugh! I didn't ask what the man looked like!"

"Don't worry. He's in his fifties, tall with black hair beginning to gray. He was in excellent shape physically. His eyes were brown, not sure what shade. That's all that Tora noticed. See, I had your back."

"Thanks, that vision really threw me off a bit. Why did we leave? It's past sundown. You want to stay at Tora's for the night?"

"Whatever you want to do, we could always sleep on our dashers."

"Let's go to Tora's. Just in case I have another vision," Aqila considered.

"That works. You go ahead while I tie the dashers down for the night," Haneul replied.

Aqila took her time walking back. She was still turning those images over and over in her head. Asking herself what they could mean. She had an intuitive feeling that it was related to Jai somehow, but she didn't know how. All throughout the evening, Aqila wasn't herself. Was another vision coming? She felt like something was on the horizon. She was so close and yet so far.

It was the middle of the night. Tora was sleeping in his room. Haneul was downstairs on the couch, and Aqila was in the guest bedroom. She couldn't sleep. Her body was dead tired, but her mind was running a marathon. This sensation was not new to her. She immediately thought of Zeroun. He would tell her to focus on her breath control. Ten-second inhales, followed by a twelve-second exhale. Aqila took deep breaths, and her mind was beginning to clear. She was growing more and more tired. She felt the sensation, not of sleep, but of sight, and she was more than ready.